Chapter 432: Morning Rain
Thinking of the grassland in the Zhou Garden, that Twilight Valley, the Daoist scriptures and old objects lost in the lake, Chen Changsheng felt both surprised and delighted.
When he had left the Zhou Garden back then, he had no idea what had happened. To put it another way, he had no clue how he had gotten out of the Zhou Garden, suddenly appearing in the demon snowfields tens of thousands of miles away. Because he didn’t know about the iron plate in Black Robe’s hands, he was completely unaware of what happened to the Zhou Garden afterward. He only learned about it later on the road from Hua Jiefu and the others.
If the Zhou Garden hadn’t been destroyed, didn’t that mean those Heavenly Book Stele stolen by Zhou Du|fu might see the light of day again?
Yes, the most important and precious things in the Zhou Garden were not that mausoleum, nor the lost artifacts of predecessors, nor the roast chicken, grilled lamb, silver, and books he had thrown into the lake while fighting the two attendants of Nan Ke. Of course, it was the Heavenly Book Stele.
No, Chen Changsheng froze, thinking of another possibility, and suddenly realized that the most precious thing in the Zhou Garden might not be the Heavenly Book Stele.
At least, not to him.
If that girl, First Meeting… hadn’t managed to leave the Zhou Garden, could she still be inside now? If the Zhou Garden hadn’t been destroyed, did that mean she might still be alive? Right there inside?
He knew this possibility was extremely slim, but since the thought had occurred to him, how could he hesitate? His divine sense directly charged toward the phantom of that black stele.
With a thunderous boom, it echoed through his sea of consciousness.
That wisp of his divine sense instantly turned into countless streams of green smoke, vanishing without a trace.
He woke up in the National Academy’s scripture library, his sea of consciousness churning, pain wracking him, a nauseating urge to vomit rising in his throat.
It took a long time for that agonizing feeling to gradually fade.
Chen Changsheng didn’t hesitate. He once again split off a strand of divine sense, channeled it into the sword sheath, and asked the ten thousand swords to clear a path. In an instant, he arrived once more at the other side of the ocean of sword intent.
But there was nothing there.
The ten thousand swords obeyed and made way, the sword intent subsiding. Naturally, there was no ocean formed of sword intent.
Without an ocean, how could there be a shore?
Without a shore, naturally there would be no black stele waiting for him there.
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment, then released his control over those swords. The fierce sword intent once again filled the space, and the ocean reappeared.
His divine sense, with great difficulty, once again crossed the ocean of sword intent, reached the opposite shore, saw the black stele, and descended.
Still, there was no surprise. That wisp of his divine sense was obliterated with a crash, and he woke up again.
Chen Changsheng was silent for a long time, then got up and walked out of the scripture library.
Tonight, his divine sense had been depleted too much to support another attempt.
Suppressing the intense urge to rediscover the Zhou Garden, find those Heavenly Book Stele… and her, was an incredibly difficult task.
Even though he was the youth in the world best able to resist temptation and the most rational, he still struggled greatly.
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There were some things Chen Changsheng could no longer endure. For instance, he hadn’t bathed in many days. From entering the Zhou Garden to the long journey south back home, when had he had time to wash? So today, after returning to the National Academy, he did nothing else first. He used three large buckets of hot water and half an hour to scrub himself thoroughly from head to toe, inside and out. Yet even so, he still felt he wasn’t clean enough.
Returning to the small building, he washed himself twice more. Only after confirming there was no trace of grime did he take up the Dragon’s Roar Sword to trim his hair and shave his beard, cut his fingernails into slight curves, and his toenails into neat squares. He changed into clean clothes, finally feeling comfortable. He walked to the window, glanced again at Zhou Prison and the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, silently greeted Zhe Xiu and Tang Thirty-Six, then climbed into bed to sleep.
The night was already deep.
At five in the morning, he woke up on time.
There was a faint, subtle scent in the room. It wasn’t perfume or floral, but it was pleasant to smell.
A strand of black hair lay on the pillow beside him.
It seemed Mo Yu had been here.
Chen Changsheng felt a bit dazed, wondering how he had slept so soundly last night. Or was Mo Yu stronger than people thought?
After all, he was now a peak Tongyou realm cultivator. Even if Mo Yu was in the Juxing realm, there was no reason she could lie beside him all night without a sound, and he wouldn’t notice a thing.
Of course, his feelings at the moment were more of discomfort, finding it somewhat absurd.
Mo Yu was the most famous beauty in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
She was the second most powerful woman in the Great Zhou.
And they were enemies.
He had just returned to the capital, and she wouldn’t even give him a single night before sneaking over to sleep beside him. What was she doing?
Suddenly, rain began to fall outside the window, pattering down without much chill, but early summer instantly returned to spring.
Chen Changsheng looked out the window and suddenly heard a loud noise from the direction of the distant courtyard gate.
Everything felt familiar, like that rainy morning when Tianhai Shengxue led the Great Zhou Northern Army’s iron cavalry and smashed down the National Academy’s courtyard gate.
On this rainy morning, who was coming?
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…
It was still someone from the Tianhai family. Not Tianhai Shengxue, but someone Chen Changsheng and Xuanyuan Po recognized.
Xuanyuan Po looked at the youth sitting in the wheelchair, his emotions complicated. This youth had once destroyed his right arm. Logically, he should hate him deeply. But later, this youth had been crippled by the Princess Luoluo, injured even worse than him, and his own right arm had mostly healed under Chen Changsheng’s treatment. The simple-minded bear clan youth couldn’t muster much hatred, instead feeling some sympathy.
In the wheelchair sat Tianhai Ya’er, the young strongman who had once held a terrifying reputation in the capital. Of course, that was all in the past.
Now, Tianhai Ya’er’s face was pale, his cheeks slightly swollen, the muscles on his legs clearly atrophied. He had become a cripple. Anyone looking at this youth, if they didn’t know the evil deeds he had done, would likely feel pity and sympathy, just like Xuanyuan Po.
But Tianhai Ya’er was a person who didn’t need sympathy. He had never sympathized with others, nor did he need theirs. He was cruel to both others and himself. Even crippled, he wouldn’t swallow his pride.
“Chen Changsheng, I’ll **** your ancestors back eighteen generations.”
When Chen Changsheng arrived at the National Academy’s gate, the first words he heard were about himself. Even though, to this day, he didn’t even know who his parents were, let alone where his ancestors came from, hearing Tianhai Ya’er’s shrill voice, he couldn’t help but feel anger.
The National Academy’s gate was pushed open. In the morning rain, Chen Changsheng walked into Baihua Lane and began to face his enemy, just like last year.
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(The stage play of “Ze Tian Ji,” titled “First Entry into the Mortal World,” will be performed at the Yihai Theater in Shanghai from May 1st to May 9th. Tickets are on sale now. Interested friends can search for “Ze Tian Ji stage play tickets” and purchase them on Gewara Life, Damai, or the Shanghai Cultural Information website. You can also follow the “Ze Tian Ji Stage Play” Sina Weibo for the latest ticket information. Like everyone else, I’m not very familiar with stage plays, but I always hold beautiful hopes for our story to be adapted into various art forms. I wish everything goes well, sincerely.)